Liars' Waltz
by RukoYukine
Summary: Togami and Celes have an interesting conversation in the depths of Hell. (Togami x Celestia One Shot - Note: I do not personally ship this, but I thought I'd try my hand at writing it.) (Hopefully not OOC)


Liars' Waltz

"Oh? Is that how you see it, dearest Togami?" Celestia twirled her long bangs around her slender, white finger. "Perhaps a game is in order, then?" She smirked, her red eyes shining with devilish excitement.

Byakuya Togami was too clever to fall for Celestia's trap. "Hardly," he replied. "If you wish, Ludenberg, to trammel me into one of your 'games,' then I pity you. I am the heir to the Togami Conglomerate, and I could never have lasted this long if I fell victim to every stupid gamble that any common lowlife should throw at me."

The Super High School Level Gambler looked amused. "Come on, now. We won't play for money, if you don't want to."

The blond stared at her. "Foolish not to play for money. Money is how the world works. How can you possibly honestly say that this," he pulled out two hundred dollar bills from his jacket's inner pocket and threw them up in Celestia's face, "not tempt you? You, who burned to death for a chance at the pitiful amount of ten million yen?"

Celestia cocked her head to one side, an amused smile spreading across her elegant face. She rested her chin on her hands. "I'll admit. I was foolish in life. But here, where there are nothing but flames to burn us, and screams to fill the air, I've realized something. Something important. Would you like to know what I've learned?"

Togami crossed his arms. "Heh. Are you implying that just because we're stuck in this miserable pit for all eternity that I must stoop to consort with scum like you?"

At this, the gambler laughed, giggling in quite an abrupt manner. "Excuse me," she chuckled when she had calmed down. She smoothed her long, ruffled skirts. "I don't think you understand, Togami. This is Hell. There are no classes or levels to anything. Down here, where all liars go, we are all partners in the dance of crime and sin, or at least, we all danced to the rhythm of sin in life and now pay for it. You can keep time with your lies and delusions all you like, but in the end, you are a liar, just as I am. You and I are one in the same, you see?"

"I don't see myself as anywhere near your base level."

Celestia chuckled. "Look around you, Togami. The empire you built on earth - do you see it here? Of course not. So do yourself a favor. Give up. Play my game. We can make a wager on it."

The former heir lowered his eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?" he murmured.

"No one ever _deserves_ it," Celestia laughed. "But if we're going to be stuck here forever, we might as well have a little fun, right?"

The prideful blond clenched his fist and stared straight at the seductress who kept her cool even in the depths of Hell. "I admire your audacity, _Yasuhiro_," he spat, "but it's going to take more than words and a poker face to force my surrender."

He smiled bitterly. "I am Byakuya Togami, heir to the Togami Conglomerate. If Monokuma and Ultimate Despair have destroyed the world, destroyed my company, then so be it. If this really is Hell, then fine. I will climb up out of this pathetic flaming cockroach hole fifty thousand times over even if it burns my skin off and melts my bones down until I'm nothing more than a pile of hotly glowing embers."

In that moment, as he uttered that vow, Celestia could see the fire burning in his clear cerulean eyes. The fire was not a reflection of the flames flickering around them in the underworld; it came from within, from a pride that could not be put out, no matter how much humiliation or despair one poured on it. And that was the thrill of the game. The game wasn't as she made it out to be. No, the game was not a round of poker or Russian roulette. It was a wager against herself. Could she break him? It would be fun, so fun, to see how far he would go before he broke.

She wanted him to scream. She wanted him to cry. She wanted the proud boy to sink to his knees and sob, but what he said next surprised her.

"I swear on the name of Togami that I will escape from here, _Yasuhiro Taeko_."

This irritated her. "That's not my name," she replied, breathing slowly to maintain an aura of calm.

He only sneered. "Isn't it? Admit it. In the end, you're nothing more than worthless garbage, thrown into the incinerator to burn."

She tried to keep her cool, to keep the poker face of which she was so proud. "Listen, Togami. I say this in your best interest. The sooner you learn to accept that, here, in the afterlife, we are the same – "

"You've got that wrong," Togami interrupted calmly with an eerie smile.

Celestia stopped abruptly, her eyes widening. "That… that phrase. That little idiot! You… You..." She exploded into a fit of laughter. "So then, you really have been affected by Naegi after all!"

Togami only scoffed. "I didn't need that fool to convince me of anything. I wanted to test out what was so amusing about that phrase that he would repeat it over and over. I must say, it has a certain ring to it."

"You – "

"Heh. You would never understand. Garbage is garbage, no matter how you dress it up. Throw garbage like you in the incinerator, and you burn. But sometimes, when one throws glass into the heat and flames, something beautiful emerges."

"And are you saying you're the glass? Hardly seems like you to compare yourself with something so fragile," Celestia bitterly remarked.

Togami shook his head. "I never said I was the glass. I am a Togami; I was born into this world as a raw gem. You, on the other hand, will never be as valuable," he retorted.

"But…" Togami continued, "if, in the case you were glass, after all… perhaps…"

Celestia was shocked. "Perhaps what?"

The young man did not reply; he only shook his head.

"Will you play a gamble?" Celestia asked, seemingly sweetly. "Let us not wager money, but rather our secrets, shall we?"

"My ears are too refined for your vulgar secrets," Togami said in reply.

"Oh, but I think you might like this one," Celestia chuckled. It was easy keeping a straight face, and she knew Togami was intrigued.

Before he could respond, she giggled like a little girl at the playground. "Here it is: I. Love. You." She whispered it. It was barely audible.

Togami made no response. She wondered if he even heard her over the moaning of tortured souls that had become the rhythm to their liars' waltz.

Even if he had, she knew that neither of them would admit it. Both were too proud of their poker faces and of their ability to lie to give in to the other.

But.

She could have sworn on the fiery pit where she was trapped that she had heard a barely audible, "I love you, too."

**A/N: I should never try to write romance. Or one shots. At any rate, here is the story that I wrote for doubleohninja's (on Instagram) birthday, because she ships Togami and Celestia. I wanted to add in more references to money, but I thought it would be a little weird if I did that, and anyway, it's more interesting if this conversation takes place in Hell, right? I'm not sure how well I did with the characters, but any comment is welcome, so please leave a review! Thank you for reading!**


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